1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a motor vehicle door lock. More specifically, the present invention relates to a door lock with a control unit separate from a lock unit.
The concept of motor vehicle door lock of this invention should be understood as encompassing not only side door locks and rear door locks, but also, for example, rear hatch locks. The concept of motor vehicle door lock of the present invention means the entire system with components that can also be arranged in a distributed manner.
2. Description of Related Art
Motor vehicle door locks are known in various embodiments. More and more often, motor vehicle door locks can be found with a central interlock drive, opening drive, auxiliary lock drive, driven entirely by electric motor. One example of such a motor vehicle door lock system can be found in published European Patent Application EP 0 894 920 A1, which includes lock elements and lock mechanism having a plurality of micro-switches and proximity sensors, especially Hall sensors, with signals which are evaluated and converted in the lock electronics.
In particular, in the lock mechanism and the lock electronics, the issue of moisture entry is important. The above-mentioned known motor vehicle door lock relates to special shielding measures.
A motor vehicle door or hatch has a damp space facing the outside door wall in which moisture enters from overhead at the window shaft in an amount that is often considerable, and a dry space that is generally sealed and separated from the damp space and is facing toward the inside of the motor vehicle door or hatch. The lock elements necessarily sit in the damp space as they are normally located on the end face of the motor vehicle door or hatch. In the dry space, there are electrical components such as, for example, a speaker, etc. The damp space/dry space separation has become known in, for example, electrical window raisers.
Also, as shown in published German Patent Application DE 44 44 581 A1, damp space/dry space separation has also been applied in a motor vehicle door lock. In this motor vehicle door lock there are mechanical lock elements, including lock latch and the detent pawl, combined in one lock unit in an encapsulated housing located in a damp space. In a dry space, on the other hand, a lock unit connected via Bowden cables to a separate control unit with an electric drive motor and lock electronics. In the dry space, there is also the inside door handle arrangement. The use of a remote power transmission means, such as the Bowden cable, which penetrates the damp/dry separation of the motor vehicle door or hatch, makes it possible to house the moisture-sensitive control unit in the dry space without adversely affecting the serviceability of the motor vehicle door lock overall.
However, in the prior art previously published, not less than five mechanical connections by the remote power transmission means and an undisclosed number of electrical connection elements are necessary. Accordingly, the associated cost is considerable with such door lock systems which prevents practical introduction of these motor vehicle door locks.
It is therefore an object of the invention is to optimize the above explained known concept of damp space/dry space separation for a motor vehicle door lock.
The invention is further described below using several embodiments shown in the drawings.